Green & Gold

IS a green car really unlucky?

Of course not. Colour has nothing to do with what happens to any car – except on a dark night without the lights on.

There are so many different hues available these days, though white, silver and black are the most popular, but you should have a good think about the colour of your next car – because it could affect its value.

Researchers at iSeeCars.com in the US analysed more than 2.1 million sales of three-year-old cars and found that depreciation varied widely across different the different colours.

The sample only applies to the US, but it is a big sample, and the trends are clear.

The survey showed:

The average car in the US loses 33 percent of its value in the first three years – but yellow cars lose only 27 percent, while gold-coloured cars drop 37.1 percent.

Orange and green cars are still viewed with skepticism by most buyers. Amazing what an urban myth can do.

They make up just 1.2 of the US domestic market. But they hold their value well above average.

Could that be because the orange ones are bought by folk of Dutch descent and the green ones Irish? Or just because they’re comparatively are colours?

The three worst colours – beige, purple, and gold – have combined market share of just 0.7 percent, but depreciate more than 10 percent worse than the industry average.

And it has very little to do with mileage.

Other data that emerged was that two-door coupés tend to have lower odometer readings than the equivalent sedans.

Across the board, coupés lose only 29.2 percent of their value over the first three years against the industry average of 33.1 percent – but gold-coloured two-doors lose 35.8 percent of their value despite their generally lower odometer readings.

The website advises US buyers looking for a new car to consider something in yellow, orange or green because, on average, they’ll get better value if they sell it after three years.

But if you’re looking for a used car, gold, purple or beige are the colours to go for since the previous owner will have already taken a bigger depreciation hit.

Gold might be a valuable commodity, but apparently not if it’s of the passenger kind.

Happy shopping.